1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for providing a cooling system for an LED lighting system.
2. Description of the Related Art
LEDs are rapidly becoming a popular source of lighting systems. Using LEDs provide numerous advantages over traditional light bulbs. For example, the size of the LED is dramatically smaller than a typical incandescent bulb, but the luminance of the LED can be just as strong or even greater.
Since an LED is a semiconductor device, the temperature of the junction point of the LED should be controlled to ensure that the LED will not burn out. In addition, controlling the temperature of the LED junction point will help to sustain maximum light, life and color consistency. Rapid fluctuations in the temperature can have undesirable effects in an LED lighting as the color and the luminance of light emitted by the LED will also vary greatly with the temperature fluctuations and will be noticed in a lighting fixture that uses LEDs. Thus, these systems utilize a cooling system to regulate the heat generated by the LED.
Typical cooling systems can involve the use of a heat sink and/or fan to cool the junction point. Another cooling system that can be used is a Peltier cooler. A Peltier cooler is an electrical device that works as a heat pump whereby heat is transferred from one side to the other when current is supplied to the cooler. The amount of current powering the Peltier cooler will have a linear relationship to the heat transferred. Through the use of two plates on opposite sides of the cooler, the Peltier cooler can transfer the heat from one plate to the other thereby creating a cooling surface area. Having a cooling surface area allows the LED system to be directly cooled by a proactive system instead of having a passive heat sink. Thus, the temperature at the junction can be directly controlled.
While the use of a Peltier cooler allows for greater control in cooling an LED system, there are several disadvantages. Peltier coolers have very low efficiency. They can consume more power than they transport. Thus, having a Peltier cooler operating all the time will use a lot of energy making the device less energy efficient. The Peltier cooler will also generate heat on the heating plate, which will need to be dealt with to avoid affecting the LED system. Another consideration in using the Peltier system is that the cooling effect can cause condensation to gather on the cooling plate if the Peltier cooler operates consistently after a long period of time. That condensation can affect the operation of a LED based lighting system.